The Pasadena Roof Orchestra presents its very first Christmas Album. All the tracks are carefully selected Christmas favourites drawn from the Orchestra's extensive repertoire, and capture the very essence of a vintage Christmas celebration.

A Christmas album from an established artist is normally high up on the recording agenda. In this respect it might be fair to say this album is somewhat overdue, especially as the Orchestra had a radio hit with "White Christmas" in the 70s. A little research into seasonal songs from the 20s, 30s and 40s reveals a wealth of material, and whilst some of these tracks will be very familiar, others not so. "It's Winter Again" or "I'm Going Home for Christmas" for example are welcome new additions to a Christmas playlist.

The styles on this album range from a pure Norman Rockwell like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to an out and out swinging Dorsey style "Santa Claus is Coming To Town". It starts with a Simon Townley inspired "Christmas Stomp" - listeners who can spot all the tunes in this medley can award themselves an extra mince pie!

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra has been playing swing and hot dance jazz for over 40 years, releasing roughly 40 albums in that span. The London based outfit is extremely popular throughout Europe and, of late, in Japan. The founder of the group, John Arthy, was the last original member of the group when he retired in 1997. But the band goes on. Arthy founded the band upon having discovered a trunk full of original band arrangements from the 20s in an attic, so the bulk of the band's repertoire is 20s and 30s, but they don't always limit themselves to pre-war material ("The Christmas Album" being a good example; the song "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" made it's first appearance in song on the radio in 1948).

There aren't any song clips of "The Christmas Album" available yet, but there are some great videos on YouTube of the Orchestra with the Puppini Sisters, if you want to get an idea of the band's overall sound. Release date for this one is November 28 and it's expected to reach Amazon US as an Import on December 6.